Hunter's Heart

Chapter 32

The entire scene was a cliché – even for a dream. Around Quinn was only darkness, the kind that was eerie and all encompassing. She stood in the center of a circular piece of white marble floor, illuminated by a light somewhere overhead that she couldn't find the source of no matter how hard she tried.

Concentrating, Quinn tried to extract herself from her dream, or at least to turn it into a more pleasant scene, but nothing happened. So, she rolled her eyes and did the only thing she could. Since she was stuck in her dream, she began walking.

After a while, she noticed little flecks of red breaking the white marble beneath her feet. Sometimes the flecks would get bigger in patterns she was sure she recognized but just couldn't quite put her finger on. That is, until she could swear she smelled something faintly metallic in the air.

Blood, she realized.

Her heart began to race as a sense of dread rolled through her. Something was terribly wrong. She shouldn't be seeing this blood. Still, unable to stop herself, Quinn found her feet following the trail of blood, her dread turning to fear as she moved.

Something appeared several paces ahead of her, several somethings, actually. All lying in awkward positions, as if they were ragdolls that had been tossed aside by a careless child. There was something familiar about the shapes, something that struck a chord inside her and had her gasping for breath in absolute horror.

Sophia, Liam, Melissa, Grayson, Caine ... All of them dead.

No! She tried to scream, but no sound would come out of her mouth.

She sank to her knees in horror, tears streaming from her eyes. They were gone. The people she cared most about in the world, the people that meant everything to her were gone. Why? Why was she suddenly dreaming something so horrible?

"Animals ... Filthy animals ..."

Cold seeped into her veins as she heard the all too familiar voice in the darkness.

Viktor Antanov.

"They trusted you," he said as he stepped from the dark and circled her like a predator. "They trusted you to help them, to not betray them, to lead them and look at what you've done ..."

Quinn lashed out with her arm, but it connected with nothing. Viktor was no longer behind her but several paces away, holding a bloody mass in his hand for her to see, a cruel smile on his lips and his eyes glittering with almost crazed delight.

"It was almost too easy," he taunted as he watched her watching blood drip from his fingers. "You led him right to me, girl."

Bile rose in her throat as the shape of the bloody thing in his hand finally registered.

A heart. He was holding a heart.

As if on cue, the floor beneath Viktor's feet lit up and she saw a large naked body lying sprawled in front of him in a pool of blood. One look at the vicious wolf tattooed across his back and she instantly knew why her grandfather was so pleased.

No! Over and over, the denial ricocheted in her mind. No! No! Please, gods, no! Not him! Please not him!

And through the denial she could hear the unmistakable sound of a wolf howling, its grief matching her own.

"NO!"

"Quinn! It's just a dream, little wolf! Wake up!"

The sight of Christian's lifeless body faded into the blackness and she screamed again, not wanting to be left alone in the dark.